The Stars of PSYCH Talk Season 2

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James Roday and Dule Hill give info on the show's return.

By Eric Goldman

USA's hit series PSYCH returns this week, continuing the adventures of Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dule Hill), who work as private investigators, with Shawn using his impressive talent for putting clues together to further his fake claim that he is a psychic. This week IGN joined a group of journalists who spoke to Roday and Hill to find out what to expect in Season 2 of the series.

"I'm very excited about the season premiere," said Hill, of the American Idol parody that opens the season. "I think the season premiere is very funny. We had a great guest cast, with Tim Curry and Gina Gershon. That is one of my top ones for fall for this year that I'm excited about."

Hill added that "throughout the season, we have multiple episodes that I'm really excited about. The horse racing episode, which I can't remember the name of it now -- I think it's called "Down the Stretch" -- I'm excited about that one because that was a lot of fun to do, and we have a lot of funny moments in that episode."

For his part, Roday said he was happen when "we had John Amos came in, and do an episode. I mean it's just cool to be standing next to John Amos. I don't know if you've ever stood next to John Amos, but I would recommend doing that, as soon as possible." Roday than humorously added "I don't even know how you would go about doing that. I don't know if you have to follow him, if there's some way that, like, your publication can contact his agent, but just try to stand next to him. Because it's really cool -- it's just a good feeling." The actors also mentioned an episode guest starring Lou Diamond Phillips, and Roday remarked "That's a fun episode. He sort of plays like Lassiter times 20 -- like the federal version of Lassiter."

Dule Hill and James Roday in PSYCH

Roday also noted "I have to agree with Dule -- I'm pretty psyched about our premiere. You know, we went pretty big with it like across the board, it was just like bigger, better, faster Psych - you know, version 2.0. And getting to watch Tim Curry work was an honor, really, and Gershon knocked it out of the park, and I got to watch Dule wear a Jeri Curl. These are all big highlights for me. And we also have an episode that takes place in the Pimp My Ride world, which I got a kick out of too, just because we often try to put Shawn and Gus in worlds where they don't fit in, or where they're fish out of water, but I think that one especially served that premise. It's got a little bit of an urban feel to it, and I think it's really funny." Asked if he too sports a jeri curl, Roday replied "No, but I did deliver a ridiculous hairstyle of my own. It was just as big and just as ridiculous, but there was no jeri curl involved."

PSYCH, like its companion show Monk, has a bit of an erratic schedule, with the majority of episodes shown during the summer, but some other new installments peppered throughout the year. Roday clarified that this had no affect on their own shooting schedule however, saying "we work straight through, so you know we shoot of all of our episodes back to back to back to back to back to back, and then it's the network that splits them up. And I think we're both still trying to get our brains around why exactly that is, but that's the way they do it."

Asked if he hears much feedback from real life psychics, Roday said he does not, adding, "To be honest, after the pilot episode, I'm not sure how many psychics kept tuning in. I think we're doing a pretty good job of sort of spoofing that entire line of work." Roday was asked if perhaps Shawn could indeed have a form of psychic power, that allows him to put the pieces together in the manner her does, and if any psychics had pointed that out about the character. Roday noted that indeed "I met with a couple of psychics before we got started, and there was sort of that through line of where a lot of people have the gift and don't realize they have the gift. And you need somebody to help show you that you have it, stuff like that. But I don't know; I'm not sure how popular we are with the real psychics out there."